Boerne, Seguin settle LCRA suits — no cash to change hands

Boerne and Seguin have agreed to settle lawsuits filed against them by the Lower Colorado River Authority over their early cancellation of wholesale power agreements.

No money will change hands under the settlements approved by the respective city councils Tuesday night, officials say, and the cities are not obliged to resume buying electricity from the LCRA.

“We agreed to quit slapping each other and we each walk our own way,” Andy Quittner, Seguin’s city attorney, said Wednesday.

Boerne’s city attorney, Kirsten Cohoon, said, “Both the LCRA and Boerne are pleased to put this litigation behind us.

“We just want to move foward with providing cost-effective power service to our customers,” she said Wednesday.

The cities were among several retail utilities that stopped buying wholesale power from the LCRA around 2012 to protest what they considered the preferential treatment it gave 33 other customers who’d renewed their contracts through 2041.

Denying claims of discrimination and price-gouging, the LCRA sued the former customers, claiming they’d breached the terms of contracts that were due to expire in June, 2016.

The LCRA released a statement by Tom Oney, its general counsel, saying the settlements were mutually beneficial in wording similar to Cohoon’s.

“We are pleased to put this litigation behind us as we focus on continuing to provide reliable power services to our customers at cost-effective rates,” the statement said.

Kerrville Mayor Jack Pratt said Wednesday that no settlement was in the works for the LCRA suit filed against that city’s electric utility, KPUB, which brought a counterclaim.

The settlements follow the LCRA’s recent agreement to pay New Braunfels Utilities $20.5 million to resolve a similar dispute.

NBU had sued the LCRA and prevailed in July before a Comal County jury that returned a verdict of $29.7 million against the LCRA and a subsidiary, GenTex Power Corp.

“I would think the NBU verdict influenced them to settle,” Quittner, the Seguin city attorney, said of LCRA. “It certainly changed everyone’s thinking.”

The LCRA initially indicated it planned to appeal the verdict, which included $2.14 million for NBU’s legal fees, but the LCRA board instead voted last month to settle just before a final judgment was to be entered in the case.

Neither Quittner nor Cohoon would estimate how much money was spent on legal counsel by their cities which, along with KPUB, were jointly represented in the suits by the Austin firm Lloyd Gosselink.